I have been getting back into my fitness training lately. Having joined a gym in the city, I am now able to train for longer each day without having to worry about being on time in the mornings or falling asleep on the tube on the way home. I have especially been enjoying training my legs, which any gym enthusiasts out there will recognize as the body part to cause serious achiness, otherwise known as DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness), which kicks in a day or two after a workout. Legs seem to be particularly adept at attracting and maintaining DOMS, making everyday tasks like stairs and sitting down far more… well… interesting!

Having studied as an exercise physiologist, and now as an NLP trainer and master practitioner, I have noticed that there are countless similarities between the body and mind, creating more of a psychophysiology rather than two separate disciplines. And each time I workout in the gym, I learn a little more about how my mind works.

Example? Ok. Well imagine for a moment a bar loaded with weights just resting on the floor. The exercise, known as the dead-lift, is a regular appearance on strongman contests and is generally considered one of the best measures of overall strength. Now imagine adding MORE weight to the bar. Now as you look at the bar, you seriously doubt whether you would even be able to lift it high enough to slip a piece of paper between the weights and the floor, let alone stand yourself all the way up. So you stand there, just looking at it!

We may recognize this pattern everyday as procrastination, which often kicks in when we are faced with such a daunting task. How many times have you been faced with something of great importance and challenge, and rather than take action, you look at it for a while and then decide to go off and do something else. Classic procrastination alternatives may include making a cup of tea, doing the washing up or just generally doing something of low importance. We tend to have our favourite ways to fill time.

However, we occasionally hear stories of people doing the seemingly impossible, such as the old woman who lifts a car off of someone and drags them to safety. In these moments, the superhero literally has no awareness or cognition of their own limitations, and is therefore able to perform acts of unbelievable personal power.

So what is the difference?

The answer is State. State management is one of the most important elements of success and is so simple to change that people often overlook its importance in creating results, preferring to look to advanced strategies or exciting new techniques. However, this fundamental principle is the foundation to all success.

(When I started writing this, I was not planning to talk about state management, as there are so many articles and passages out there on the subject, but as I was writing, its importance was reinforced to me again, and I wanted to share my thoughts with you!)

So how can you improve your state management? Three areas – Physiology, Focus and Language.

Your physiology, how you carry yourself, is the easiest predictor for someone to pick up on from the outside. When you watch sport, you can often tell who will win before a match just by looking at the posture and movement of the various players. Somehow, winners seem to move differently.

Your focus is how you filter information. We are bombarded with 2 million bits of information per second, and we could not consciously take it all in. We therefore develop various filters that help us make sense of the world, and we delete, distort and generalize to make life easier for us. Just imagine what information you are not picking up on right now just because you focus is on reading this article.

Finally, your language is what you say, not just to others but also to yourself. It is vital to train yourself to use words in a more constructive and positive way, and to find a way to control your inner voice so that it serves you rather than holds you back. We are all very good at criticizing ourselves; how good can you be at giving yourself praise and recognition?

So when I am faced with big tasks tomorrow, I will remember to manage my state. I will view these challenges not as obstacles, rather as opportunities for me to discover really how good I am. I have no limits other than those my imagination creates for me. I have all the power I can use if I just choose to tap into it.

As Thomas Edison said, “if we all did the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves“